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Muslim world

The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the unified Islamic community (Ummah), consisting of all those who adhere to the religion of Islam,[1] or to societies where Islam is practiced.[2][3] In a modern geopolitical sense, these terms refer to countries where Islam is widespread, although there are no agreed criteria for inclusion.[4][3] Some scholars and commentators have criticised the term 'Muslim/Islamic world' and its derivative terms 'Muslim/Islamic country' as "simplistic" and "binary", since no state has a religiously homogeneous population (e.g. Egypt's citizens are c. 10% Christian), and in absolute numbers, there are sometimes fewer Muslims living in countries where they make up the majority than in countries where they form a minority.[5][6][7] Hence, the term Muslim-majority countries is often preferred in literature.[8]

The history of the Muslim world spans about 1400 years and includes a variety of socio-political developments, as well as advances in the arts, science, philosophy, and technology, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age.[citation needed] All Muslims look for guidance to the Quran and believe in the prophetic mission of Muhammad,[citation needed] but disagreements on other matters have led to appearance of different religious schools and branches within Islam. In the modern era, most of the Muslim world came under influence or colonial domination of European powers. The nation states that emerged in the post-colonial era have adopted a variety of political and economic models, and they have been affected by secular and as well as religious trends.[citation needed]

Muslim history involves the history of the Islamic faith as a religion and as a social institution. The history of Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula when the Islamic prophetMuhammad allegedly received the first revelation of the Quran in the 7th century in the cave of Hira in the month of Ramadan. According to tradition, he was supposedly commanded by Allah to convey this message to the people, and to be patient with those hostile to it. These included the leaders of the Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Mecca, who opposed the assertion of tawhid (monotheism) and abolishing what Muhammed branded "idolatry", meaning the worship of gods other than Allah at the Kaaba, such as Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt, Al-‘Uzzá and Manāt. After 13 years of spreading this message, despite increased persecution by the Quraysh, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina to establish a new state under the prophet's leadership and away from persecution. This migration, called the Hijra, marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. Islam was then spread to other parts of the Arabian Peninsula over the course of Muhammad's life.

The term "Islamic Golden Age" has been attributed to a period in history wherein science, economic development and cultural works in most of the Muslim-dominated world flourished.[26][27] The age is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world sought to translate and gather all the known world's knowledge into Arabic,[28][29] and to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258.[30] The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr," that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education.[31] During this period, the Muslim world was a collection of cultures; they drew together and advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations.[32]

Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of ceramic glaze was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery.[33]Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of fritware, originating from 9th century Iraq.[34] Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).[35]

A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, Philosophus Autodidactus, first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations might have later inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, regarded as the first novel in English.[48][49][50][51]Philosophus Autodidactus, continuing the thoughts of philosophers such as Aristotle from earlier ages, inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist.[52]

One of the common definitions for "Islamic philosophy" is "the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture."[62] Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims.[62] The Persian scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037) had more than 450 books attributed to him. His writings were concerned with various subjects, most notably philosophy and medicine. His medical textbook The Canon of Medicine was used as the standard text in European universities for centuries. He also wrote The Book of Healing, an influential scientific and philosophical encyclopedia.

Muslim scientists contributed to advances in the sciences. They placed far greater emphasis on experiment than had the Greeks. This led to an early scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from circa 1000, in his Book of Optics. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. Some have also described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first scientist."[73]al-Khwarzimi's invented the log base systems that are being used today, he also contributed theorems in trigonometry as well as limits.[74] Recent studies show that it is very likely that the Medieval Muslim artists were aware of advanced decagonalquasicrystal geometry (discovered half a millennium later in the 1970s and 1980s in the West) and used it in intricate decorative tilework in the architecture.[75]

Muslim physicians contributed to the field of medicine, including the subjects of anatomy and physiology: such as in the 15th century Persian work by Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas entitled Tashrih al-badan (Anatomy of the body) which contained comprehensive diagrams of the body's structural, nervous and circulatory systems; or in the work of the Egyptian physician Ibn al-Nafis, who proposed the theory of pulmonary circulation. Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine remained an authoritative medical textbook in Europe until the 18th century. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (also known as Abulcasis) contributed to the discipline of medical surgery with his Kitab al-Tasrif ("Book of Concessions"), a medical encyclopedia which was later translated to Latin and used in European and Muslim medical schools for centuries. Other medical advancements came in the fields of pharmacology and pharmacy.[76]

Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using new technology such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Hormuz was an important center for this trade. There was also a dense network of trade routes in the Mediterranean, along which Muslim-majority countries traded with each other and with European powers such as Venice, Genoa and Catalonia. The Silk Road crossing Central Asia passed through Muslim states between China and Europe.

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power and wind power,[81]fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic).[82] The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. A variety of industrial mills were being employed in the Islamic world, including early fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, sawmills, ship mills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.[77] Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.[83] Such advances made it possible for industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution.[84]

Scholars often use the term Gunpowder Empires to describe the Islamic empires of the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal. Each of these three empires had considerable military exploits using the newly developed firearms, especially cannon and small arms, to create their empires.[85] They existed primarily between the fourteenth and the late seventeenth centuries.[86]

"Why do the Christian nations, which were so weak in the past compared with Muslim nations begin to dominate so many lands in modern times and even defeat the once victorious Ottoman armies?"..."Because they have laws and rules invented by reason"

A number of Muslim-majority societies reacted to Western powers with zealotry and thus initiating the rise of Pan-Islamism; or affirmed more traditionalist and inclusive cultural ideals; and in rare cases adopted modernity that was ushered by the colonial powers.[89]

The only Muslim-majority regions not to be colonized by the Europeans were Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan.[citation needed] Turkey was one of the first colonial powers of the world with the Ottoman empire ruling several states for over 6 centuries.

Because the terms 'Muslim world' and 'Islamic world' are disputed, since no country is homogeneously Muslim, and there is no way to determine at what point a Muslim minority in a country is to be considered 'significant' enough, there is no consensus on how to define the Muslim world geographically.[5][6][8] The only rule of thumb for inclusion which has some support, is that countries need to have a Muslim population of more than 50%.[5][8] Jones (2005) defines a 'large minority' as being between 30% and 50%; thus, there were nine countries with a 'large Muslim minority' in 2000, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.[8]

The two main denominations of Islam are the Sunni and Shia sects. They differ primarily upon of how the life of the ummah ("faithful") should be governed, and the role of the imam. Sunnis believe that the true political successor of the Prophet according to the Sunnah should be selected based on ٍShura (consultation), as was done at the Saqifah which selected Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, to be Muhammad's political but not his religious successor. Shia, on the other hand, believe that Muhammad designated his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his true political as well as religious successor.[101]

The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world, between 87–90%, are Sunni.[102]

In many Muslim-majority countries, illiteracy is a substantial problem. Low literacy rates in the Eastern Middle East countries and lack of educational initiatives are the cause of great social turbulence.[citation needed]

A 2016 Pew Research Center study about religion and education around the world found that Muslims have the lowest average levels of education after Hindus, with an average of 5.6 years of schooling.[129] About 36% of all Muslims have no formal schooling,[129] Muslims have also the lowest average levels of higher education of any major religious group, with only 8% having graduate and post-graduate degrees.[129] The highest of years of schooling among Muslim-majority countries found in Uzbekistan (11.5),[129]Kuwait (11.0)[129] and Kazakhstan (10.7).[129] In addition, the average of years of schooling in countries where Muslims are the majority is 6.0 years of schooling, which lag behind the global average (7.7 years of schooling).[129] In the youngest age (25–34) group surveyed, Young Muslims have the lowest average levels of education of any major religious group, with an average of 6.7 years of schooling, which lag behind the global average (8.6 years of schooling).[129] The study found that Muslims have a significant amount of gender inequality in educational attainment, since Muslim women have an average of 4.9 years of schooling; compare to an average of 6.4 years of schooling among Muslim men.[129]

Literacy rate in the Muslim world varies. Azerbaijan is the 2nd place in Index of Literacy of World Countries. Some members such as Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have over 97% literacy rates, whereas literacy rates are the lowest in Mali, Afghanistan, Chad and parts of Africa. In 2015, the International Islamic News Agency reported that nearly 37% of the population of the Muslim world is unable to read or write, basing that figure on reports from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.[130]

The term "Islamic art and architecture" denotes the works of art and architecture produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by culturally Islamic populations.[134][135]

Encompasses both secular and religious styles, the design and style made by Muslims and their construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture included the architectural types: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace and the Fort. Perhaps the most important expression of Islamic art is architecture, particularly that of the mosque.[136] Through Islamic architecture, effects of varying cultures within Islamic civilization can be illustrated. Generally, the use of Islamic geometric patterns and foliage based arabesques were striking. There was also the use of decorative calligraphy instead of pictures which were haram (forbidden) in mosque architecture. Note that in secular architecture, human and animal representation was indeed present.

Persian-style mosques are characterized by their tapered brick pillars, large arcades, and arches supported each by several pillars. In South Asia, elements of Hindu architecture were employed, but were later superseded by Persian designs.

Islamic art frequently adopts the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as arabesque. Such designs are highly nonrepresentational, as Islam forbids representational depictions as found in pre-Islamic pagan religions. Despite this, there is a presence of depictional art in some Muslim societies, notably the miniature style made famous in Persia and under the Ottoman Empire which featured paintings of people and animals, and also depictions of Quranic stories and Islamic traditional narratives. Another reason why Islamic art is usually abstract is to symbolize the transcendence, indivisible and infinite nature of God, an objective achieved by arabesque.[139]Islamic calligraphy is an omnipresent decoration in Islamic art, and is usually expressed in the form of Quranic verses. Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic kufic and naskh scripts, which can be found adorning the walls and domes of mosques, the sides of minbars, and so on.[139]

Distinguishing motifs of Islamic architecture have always been ordered repetition, radiating structures, and rhythmic, metric patterns. In this respect, fractal geometry has been a key utility, especially for mosques and palaces. Other features employed as motifs include columns, piers and arches, organized and interwoven with alternating sequences of niches and colonnettes.[140] The role of domes in Islamic architecture has been considerable. Its usage spans centuries, first appearing in 691 with the construction of the Dome of the Rock mosque, and recurring even up until the 17th century with the Taj Mahal. And as late as the 19th century, Islamic domes had been incorporated into European architecture.[141]

The Islamic calendar, Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar (AH) is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim-majority countries and determines the proper days on which to observe the annual fast (see Ramadan), to attend Hajj, and to celebrate other Islamic holidays and festivals.

The Solar Hijri calendar, also called the Shamsi Hijri calendar, and abbreviated as SH, is the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. It begins on the vernal equinox. Each of the twelve months corresponds with a zodiac sign. The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in usual years but 30 days in leap years. The year of Prophet Muhammad's migration to Medina (622 CE) is fixed as the first year of the calendar, and the New Year's Day always falls on the March equinox.

The Open Doors USA organization, in its 2012 survey of countries around the world that persecute Christians, listed 37 members of the Muslim world amongst the top 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. 9 of the top 10 countries are Islamic-majority states.[143]

Some countries have declared Islam as the official state religion. In those countries, the legal code is largely secular. Only personal status matters pertaining to inheritance and marriage are governed by Sharia law.

Jaferi in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Azerbaijan. These four are the only "Muslim states" where the majority is Shia population. In Yemen, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, and Syria, are countries with Sunni populations. In Lebanon, the majority Muslims (54%) were about equally divided between Sunni and Shia in 2010.

In a number of Muslim-majority countries the law requires women to cover either their legs, shoulders and head, or the whole body apart from the face. In strictest forms, the face as well must be covered leaving just a mesh to see through. These hijab rules for dressing cause tensions, concerning particularly Muslims living in Western countries, where restrictions are considered both sexist and oppressive. Some Muslims oppose this charge, and instead declare that the media in these countries presses on women to reveal too much in order to be deemed attractive, and that this is itself sexist and oppressive.

During much of the 20th century, the Islamic identity and the dominance of Islam on political issues have arguably increased during the early 21st century. The fast-growing interests of the Western world in Islamic regions, international conflicts and globalization have changed the influence of Islam on the world in contemporary history.[200]

Some people in Muslim-majority countries also see Islam manifested politically as Islamism.[201] Political Islam is powerful in some Muslim-majority countries. Islamic parties in Turkey, Pakistan and Algeria have taken power at the provincial level. Some in these movements call themselves Islamists, which also sometimes describes more militant Islamic groups. The relationships between these groups (in democratic countries there is usually at least one Islamic party) and their views of democracy are complex.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an inter-governmental organization grouping fifty-seven states. 49 are Muslim-majority countries, the others have significant Muslim minorities. The organization claims to be the collective voice of the Muslim world to safeguard the interest and ensure the progress and well-being of their peoples and those of other Muslims in the world over.[citation needed]

^John L. Esposito, ed. (2009). "Preface". The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-div1-15 (inactive 2017-10-27). (Subscription required (help)). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (OEIW) deals with all aspects of Islam—the world's second largest and fastest-growing religion—and the societies in which it exists, including their religion, politics, economics, everyday life, culture, and thought.

^ abAsma Afsaruddin (2016). "Islamic World". In William H. McNeill. Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History (2 ed.). Berkshire Publishing Group. doi:10.1093/acref/9780190622718.001.0001/acref-9780190622718-e-268 (inactive 2017-10-27). (Subscription required (help)). The Islamic world is generally defined contemporaneously as consisting of nation-states whose population contains a majority of Muslims. [...] in the contemporary era, the term Islamic world now includes not only the traditional heartlands of Islam, but also Europe and North America, both of which have sizeable minority Muslim populations

^ abChristopher Hitchens (2007). "Hitchens '07: Danish Muhammad Cartoons". Christopher Hitchens and Tim Rutten in discussion. Retrieved 19 September 2017. 21 ambassadors from Muslim – so-called "Muslim states". How do they dare to call themselves "Muslim"? In what sense is Egypt a "Muslim" country? You can't denominate a country as religious.(4:35)

^Gert Jan Geling (12 January 2017). "Ook na 1400 jaar kan de islam heus verdwijnen". Trouw (in Dutch). "Many people, including myself, are often guilty of using terms such as 'Muslim countries', or the 'Islamic world', as if Islam has always been there, and always will be. And that is completely unclear. (...) If the current trend [of apostasy] continues, at some point a large section of the population may no longer be religious. How 'Islamic' would that still make the 'Islamic world'?|access-date= requires |url= (help)

^ abAdam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture46 (1), pp. 1–30 [10].

^"The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity". Pew Research Center. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2016. On the other hand, in Pakistan, where 6% of the survey respondents identify as Shia, Sunni attitudes are more mixed: 50% say Shias are Muslims, while 41% say they are not.